Besides, perhaps a ride on this fine-looking specimen of a cowboy before her might be in the books. Her insides started humming at the thought. Yeah, maybe… a little game of giddy-up with Mr. AJ Reed could be arranged.
What did a ranch foreman do? She had no idea what. Her gaze slid with unmasked interest from his eyes to his whole body. He wore brown cowboy boots under scruffy jeans. Nothing finer, in her opinion, than a working man in a tight pair of ripped jeans. Sigh. Women had to go designer and break their feet in heels; and men? They just needed a nasty pair of jeans. Look at him. Pure sexual perfection.
At least, to Kate, he was. No man she knew walked around at two o’clock in the afternoon looking like him. The thought almost made her snicker out loud. Imagine Greg Danners, her co-worker and the current man she was hoping to date, walking around her office with his shirt off, the sweat and dust glistening in the sun, instead of his usual, three-piece suit and expertly groomed hair.
Resort, huh? Yes, she could use a vacation. She could work from here. Internet made life workable almost anywhere.
“Does this resort have internet and all that?” She glanced at the surrounding mountains with a tiny snort of disgust. Stupid, confining mountains. They were tall enough that maybe they blocked off internet signals. She didn’t know exactly how things in damn, rural hick-hell ran.
He nodded. “All the amenities.”
“A pool, too?”
“Well, no, no pool. But the river’s right there,” he nodded towards it.
“Ick. Who knows what kind of bugs and crawling things are in it?”
“Probably a whole lot less harmful than chlorine,” he replied and his tone was dry.
“But I can get online. Right? It’s not dial-up, or something backwards like that, is it? I need high speed.”
“Uh… sure?” His eyes started to dim, and his gaze drifted away from hers. She didn’t mean to keep drilling him, especially since she suspected he didn’t actually know the answer, but didn’t want to turn a potential customer away.
“Well, back to River Road then, huh? Pretty easy address for you all, isn’t it? One-two-two-seven River Road, River’s End, Washington?”
His gaze came back at her. “Yeah,” he replied before mumbling, “longest I’ve ever had one.” He hastily looked away again. Was he just shy? She kept her eyes glued to his face, and he never once looked back at her. He seemed… unsure of what to do under her scrutiny. He shuffled the weight of his hips over his feet, and kept shifting from one foot to the other. Was it embarrassment? Or was he painfully shy? That seemed like a bit of a stretch for a specimen of a man like him. He could have made her think she was in early menopause for the hot flash she felt from just looking at him. How could he be shy when he could blind a woman with only the sheer bulk of his shoulders and a perfect U-shape of his pecks? Hot. Hot. Hot. Lick him up and down kind of hot. Yet he was so soft spoken and kept incessantly shifting his feet? Didn’t fit.
“Well, I’d best get back to it before Mr. Rydell returns.”
“Back to what? What does a ranch foreman do?”
“Uh, anything and everything. Right now, we’re thinning the orchard. I’m overseeing that.”
“So you’re a farmer too, huh?”
His smile was small as he glanced at her and then quickly away. “Sure. Whatever needs doing.”
Seemed like a good guy to have around. Didn’t appear to have any airs. He just did what he saw needed doing. He turned and said, “Ma’am, have a nice stay.”
“Oh, I will,” she said, smiling to his back. She already decided he would have to play a part of her nice stay.
She turned back to the house and saw no more movement. Okay, on to the resort to figure out who the hell Jack Rydell was and what he was all about. Then she could determine if she’d ever divulge the fact that she was his blood relative and half-sister.
Keep check on my website for a release date.
My Other Titles:
River’s End Series:
The Rydell River Ranch is a large horse training, boarding and breeding operation, owned and operated by four brothers who are left in charge of their century old legacy in the small, rural town of River’s End.
River's End
River's Escape
The Sister Series available to date:
The Other Sister
The Years Between
The Good Sister
The Best Friend
The Wrong Sister
The Years After
Daughters is a spin-off of The Sister Series about Jessie’s (The Other Sister) daughters.
Christina (Daughters, #1)
The Zenith Trilogy:
Share in the fall, rise and eventual fulfillment of the rock band Zenith’s destiny…
Zenith Falling
Zenith Rising
Zenith Fulfilled
The Seaclusion Series:
The characters are all connected to Seaclusion, Washington a fictional town set along the Pacific Ocean.
Poison
Notorious
Secrets
Seclusion
My standalone novel: Diversions
Jason Malone has spent his life being denied by his family. His father, the respected mayor of his hometown, has all but ignored his existence, while his drug-addicted mother has always caused him more harm than good. After being unjustly imprisoned for crimes that lead back to his absentee family, he is finally starting to get his life back together again.
Until the day his estranged brother's fiancée walks into his life and changes everything.
Christine Andrews is the dutiful daughter of a rich and powerful family, engaged to Trent Gallagher, her father's right hand man, and poised to join her father and Trent in running the empire her father has built. Until Christine discovers the existence of Jason Malone and suddenly she begins to doubt everything around her, including her fiancé.
Christine becomes caught in a power struggle between the two brothers, but she soon realizes there is far more at stake than her heart, when one night everything is altered forever.
About the Author
I live in the rainy area of Western, Washington, and spend as much time as I can getting away from the rain by traveling to destinations all across the state where my family and I do tons of camping, boating, fishing, and horseback riding. Many of the locations we camp become the basis for my books. Most of my settings are fictional but are based on real places.
I earned my business degree from Western Washington University. I worked for several years in the construction management field before turning to writing and being home with my kids.
I love to hear from readers. Please contact me at: [email protected]
Or through one of my sites:
Website
Facebook Author Page
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed River’s Return.
River's Return (River's End Series, #3) Page 29
